


Exanimate

by KayCooper



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Blood and Gore, Explicit Sexual Content, Jesse is Gabe's Son, M/M, Romance, Slow Burn, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-11-20 04:16:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11328414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KayCooper/pseuds/KayCooper
Summary: With the world gone mad, sometimes the only thing to do is hold onto what's important and refuse to let go. Gabriel Reyes doesn't know what's happening. He doesn't know why people are dying and coming back as monsters whose only desire is to kill anyone in their sights. He doesn't know why the survivors are turning against each other when they should be working together to fight off the infected. What he does know is that he and his son, Jesse, are alive, and he has to do everything in his power to keep it that way. It's the two of them against the world, but the longer that they struggle to stay alive, the more Gabriel realizes he might be in over his head. Luckily for him, help arrives in the form of an ex-marine, Jack Morrison, if only Gabe can learn to trust him.





	1. In The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is a multi-chapter story that at this point I have no plan for the length of it. It's a zombie story, so in case you missed the warnings there will be blood, gore, and quite possibly character death! Do not say I didn't warn you, and I hope you enjoy the adventure.

Prologue

 If there was one thing that Gabriel Reyes was good at, it was surviving. No matter what life threw at him, he told himself that so long as he survived to see the sunrise, he’d be alright. His life was far from perfect, but it was his life, and even if everyone else gave up on it, he sure as hell wasn’t going to.

No one ever expected Gabe to make much of himself. Growing up in Green Meadows Los Angeles was anything but what the name suggested. Just a few miles North of the infamous Campton streets, Green Meadows was little more than a patch of cracked concrete and worn down houses crammed too close together. The world seemed to truly have forgotten the crumbling section of the City of Angels. 

 Money was something that his family never seemed to have enough of, but that never bothered him much. Gabe and his four siblings grew up completely unaware that they were poor. His parents worked hard every day to make sure that there was always food on the table for them, that their clothes didn’t have holes, and that they always had a party on their birthdays.

They might not always get the new toy they wanted, or get to go to the movies every weekend, but that never seemed important. What was important was the moments most people took for granted: Coming home every night to the sound of his parents singing along with the radio while they made dinner together. Spending late nights crammed onto the couch screaming at their favorite soccer teams on the too small TV. Building a fort in the backyard on the weekends and laughing when it fell apart because they forgot to put in a support beam. They were poor, but his family was happy just the way they were.

That didn’t mean that it was meant to last.

Gabe’s father died when he was just fourteen years old. From what the police officers told them, he was mowed down by stray gunshots on his way home from the grocery store. He hadn’t suffered, he hadn’t even seen it coming. One minute he was going over his grocery list to make sure that he hadn’t forgotten something, and the next he was gone. Just like that, he was another innocent victim of the gang violence crime-riddled city, another statistic, another thirty-second slot on the local news that disappeared as soon as it appeared.

Though he had been young, Gabe could still remember the day that his mother pulled him from school to tell him. The feeling of having his entire world shatter beneath him reverberating through his body and knocking the wind from his lungs. The man had been the rock in their life, a force of nature who singlehandedly supported his wife through nursing school and did everything he could to ensure his children never saw a day when their father wasn’t protective, powerful force that they needed him to be.

He was unbreakable, invulnerable, and the thought of him suddenly being ripped away from them was devastating. Gabe wanted so badly to hate the world, to lash out and break, but something always stopped him. The words his father would repeat over and over again whenever things seemed their bleakest and the world seemed to turn against them. If they kept fighting, he would tell them, the darkness would break away a piece at a time to reveal a world that they made all their own. As long as they had the strength to take another step forward, there was nothing in creation that could stop them.

It was those words that pushed Gabe forward. He was the oldest sibling out of the five, and he realized quickly that his now widowed mother was struggling to support them all by herself. Working twelve-hour shifts nearly seven days a week as an RN in a nearby emergency room, his mother was barely holding things together with the sudden loss of her husband’s income. Gabe watched as his mother, once filled with life and bursting with energy start to fade away right before his eyes. The light of her life was gone, and Gabe was terrified that he was going to lose her too.

Gabe did what he had to do. If his father wasn’t there to help his mother, then he sure as hell would be. He took that next step forward and started to tear away at the world to make it his own.

Working forty hours a week all while going to school full time, Gabe graduated at the top of his class and immediately enlisted in the US Army. He fought every day to be someone that his father would be proud of: first a member of the US Special Forces, and then as a Special Forces Commander. Every month he kept his promise to take care of his family, sending his paychecks home to his mother until every one of his siblings graduated from high school and could take care of themselves.

He couldn’t even begin the number of times that he nearly died before he finally retired from the military, and didn’t want to know the number of people that he had to kill to ensure that he made it home. All that mattered to him was that he survived, despite all the fucked-up shit that he had to endure, he’d made it. As PTSD riddled and scarred as he might have been, he still made it home.

Coming home was a dark time for him. Despite the efforts of the doctors at the VA, his PTSD ruled much of his life. He lived off his pension checks, unable to force himself to do much more than drink, smoke, and eat. He had always been a bit of a recluse, but returning from overseas he found himself secluding himself more and more. Nightmares left him awake most nights screaming and lashing out at unseen opponents while crushing anxieties left him unable to do much more than go to the store without spiraling out of control.

As things got worse, Gabriel found his thoughts wandering to darker places. He was beginning to think that he had nothing more to stay alive for. His mother would be fine without him. His siblings could take care of himself. No one needed him.

Somehow, he managed to convince himself to keep taking one more step forward. He’d made it that far, he had to believe there was something left for him in the world.

Life had a funny way of proving him right.

It had only been six months since his return from his final deployment when a knock sounded at his door. He’d expected a lot of things waiting on the other side of the door: a terrorist, an assassin, a crazed neighbor with a knife. He would have been prepared for any of these. What he wasn’t expecting was a woman in a pantsuit with a judgmental look on her face holding the hand of a six-year-old boy in one hand, and a will in the other.

Gabe had discovered in his early twenties that he was gay, but there had been a time in high school that he had experimented off and on with the opposite gender. It just so happened, that one of those women was a girl named Isabel McCree.

Isabel McCree was a pretty thing. Blonde hair, bright green eyes, and a smile that could melt just about any heart, she should have been the girl of his dreams. He had tried his best to fall for the woman the way that every other boy in school had done, but after months of failed attempts on his end, he broke it off. He didn’t know that she was pregnant at the time, if he had, he would have at least stuck around to help her out with the kid. He would never know her reasoning for keeping the boy a secret, and whatever that reason might be, he didn’t hold it against her.  He had his own dreams, and she had hers. Unfortunately for Isabel, she never got to live those dreams.

According to the social worker placed in charge of Isabel’s case, a car accident ripped away the woman’s life before it had a chance to start and left her only son, Jesse, alone and in the hands of strangers. Jesse had no other family on his mother’s side. Her mother never had any siblings, her father was in prison for crimes Gabe didn’t care to learn about, and her mother had died two years after they graduated from college, and the rest of her extended family had no interest in taking in the newly orphaned boy. That left Jesse with very few options remaining and left the social worker with the task of tracking down a father that had no idea Jesse existed.

With Jesse safely in his care, it was up to Gabe to make sure that he was given everything that he needed to thrive, and that thought terrified him. Still, the look of awe that filled the child’s face when the social worker explained that Gabe was his father was enough to convince him that he was ready and willing to do anything he could to be the father that he deserved.

He was far from the perfect father, and he knew that, but that didn’t stop him from doing everything he could to give his son a life better than his own. Immediately, Gabe forced himself to join up with the Los Angeles Police Department and worked odd hours to ensure he was home as much as possible with Jesse. This left him with little time to do things typical of people his age like dating and clubbing, but Gabe had little interest in that, to begin with. He was just as happy spending an afternoon rescuing Jesse from his latest misadventure

Gabe found himself with a reason to overcome the demons inside his own head, and he would be damned if he let anyone take that away from him. It wasn’t the last time that his monsters rose to torment him, but knowing that he had Jesse to take care of gave him the strength to fight them back every time. The moment that he had Jesse in his life, Gabe swore that he wouldn’t let anyone or anything hurt his son. There was nothing that the world could throw at him that he couldn’t handle.

He honestly didn’t expect the world to take that as a challenge.

Chapter One

 “Calling all units. An 11-80 has been reported at 1st and Main, multiple injuries reported. Witness describing driver as erratic and violent. Proceed with caution.”

“Calling all units. A 10-34 has been reported at Mercy Hospital, requesting SWAT team response to the area, multiple witnesses reporting an assault on medical personnel and patients.”

“All units please respond. A 999 at Park and 54th Street, officer requesting immediate assistance. Officer injured. Dispatching ambulance to the area. Suspect white male, 5’8” 84 years old. Name Edward Redding. Witnesses report that suspect had been assaulted by an unknown assailant earlier that afternoon, and after taking a nap attacked and killed wife, 82. Please use extreme caution.”

Gabe found himself temporarily immobile as the calls continued to pour in through the radio. Standing in the middle of the LA police department while officers, detectives, border patrol, highway patrol, and every volunteer police officer that they could scrounge up raced past him in a vain attempt to regain some semblance of control over their city.

He had been working for nearly 24 hours straight, and the damned radio hadn’t stopped once. Call after call seemed to pour through the device, sending pleading cries for help from the already strained police department. The population wanted them to do something to control the rising chaos in the streets, but no matter how many officers they came up with there were never enough boots available to respond.

Across the city, reports were flooding in about people with no previous history of violence suddenly turning on their loved ones, friends, and neighbors and attempting to tear them apart with their bare hands. Those they attacked were being shipped to overwhelmed hospitals in droves, but there weren’t enough doctors in the city to keep up with the demand.

The media wanted answers that they couldn’t give them. The National Guard was dealing with outbreaks of a similar type across the country and couldn’t spare the men. From where he was standing Gabe could hear the chief pleading with the mayor to do something: to send the army, the navy, anyone that could possibly spare men.

The city was falling apart at the seams, and something told Gabe that it was only a matter of time before they lost control completely.

“I’m getting out of here. This is…this is nuts,” The voice dragged Gabe out of his temporary daze, the pale looking officer that spoke beside him looked half dead his uniform torn and his cheek bruised.

He had seen the man around before, Officer James Salinas, but didn’t really know much about him.  The most that he could remember was that Salinas was a transfer from the Valley Bureau that worked in division 8 on the West end of LA. Other than that, Gabriel didn’t think he’d ever spoken two words to the man. Given the man’s bedraggled appearance, he didn’t think the man cared if they were best friends or worst enemies. He just needed someone to talk to.

 “I’ve got a family and this? This is out of control. You’ve got a family, right? Whatever’s happening? I think it’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.” Salinas’ voice cracked as he leaned back against the wall, his fingers moving up to run through his sweat soaked hair.

 Gabe felt a twinge of fear at the man’s question, his mind immediately retreating to his son. Was Jesse alright? He hadn’t seen him in almost forty-eight hours. Jesse was seventeen and smart as a whip, but that didn’t mean that whatever was happening would be something that he could handle. To keep himself from sprinting out the door that second, he had to remind himself that Jesse was safe at his grandmother’s house, a good distance away from the chaos of the city.

“You walk out now you’d better be ready to kiss that badge of yours goodbye,” Gabe murmured back, exhaustion heavy in his voice as he glanced over at the man. The man beside him laughed at this, the sound harsh and humorless.

“I watched a mother of four eat her husband of fifteen years today,” He pointed out bluntly, his eyes fluttering over to Gabe to gage his reaction. “She didn’t just kill him; she tore him apart with her bare hands.” Gabe’s eyes widened at this, his heart clenching painfully in his chest at the man’s words.

“I knew it was getting bad, but all the calls I’ve been out to have been riot control,” Gabe said, looking back at the man with a frown. “I heard rumors that people were losing their damn minds, but I had no idea that they were eating people.” Salinas snorted at this, reaching up to undo the nametag on his chest.

 “Her kids said that she got attacked on her way home a few days ago, started having flu liked symptoms a few hours later. Today, she got worse, she keeled over dead before they could get her to the hospital. She was dead, and next thing they knew she was up on her feet and tearing out their father’s throat,” Salinas growled, shaking his head and slamming his badge down on the desk he shook his head. “I’m getting out of here, and I’m taking my family with me. You stay if you want, but I’m telling you now that you’re going to regret it.”

Before Gabe could say another word, Salinas turned on his heel and stormed out of the building leaving Gabe alone to attempt to comprehend what he was saying. Everything inside him was telling him to leave, to get home, grab Jesse, and get the hell out of the city. Something was seriously wrong, and he had a feeling that what they were doing was about as good as using duct tape to hold together a failing dam.

                Over the roar of growing panic in his ears and the chaos of the office, it was almost impossible for him to catch the sound of his personal cell phone ringing in his pocket. Scrambling to pull the device out , Gabe felt his stomach flip when he saw his son’s name clearly displayed on the screen. Suddenly, the world seemed to disappear around him, his mind focusing pointedly onto the small device in his hand.

Trotting into the hall, Gabe lifted the phone up to his ear and took a deep breath to attempt to keep the panic out of his voice.

 “Jesse, mijo, are you ok? What’s wrong?” He asked, knowing full well that the boy wouldn’t call him at work if it wasn’t an emergency.

“Pa!” Jesse’s voice sounded strained, panicked on the other end. “Some guy just attacked Mima and me. I-I…he wouldn’t stop so I- Pa I killed him! I shot him!” Gabe could hear the tears in the boy’s voice as he spoke, and that was all that Gabe needed to sprint out of the station, fishing his keys from his pocket as he went.

“It’s alright, Jesse, you did what you had to. Calm down, I am damn proud of you,” Gabe insisted, jumping into the front seat of his cruiser. “Are you hurt?” He demanded as he sped away from the station, narrowly avoiding an oncoming car as he swerved out into traffic.

“I-I’m not, but Mima is hurt real bad,” Gabe felt his heart clench in his chest at this, but he forced himself to stay calm for his son. “I tried callin’ an ambulance, but 911 keeps givin’ me a busy signal! I don’ know what to do! Should I drive her to the doctor’s myself?” Gabe let out a harsh breath of air at the idea of his son going anywhere near the hospitals. If what he had been hearing about the victims of these attacks were true, even if they could find her a doctor there might not be much that they could do.

“Jesse, listen to me,” Gabe ordered, keeping his voice as calm as possible as he flipped on his lights and siren and tore down the street. “Stay in the house, lock the doors, do not let anyone in.”

“But Pa, Mima is…!”

“Stay there, do not leave that house! Do you understand me?” Gabe snapped, swearing as he narrowly avoided a car that plowed through a red light. Barely managing to keep himself from careening into the median, he crossed over two lanes to keep himself on the correct path.

“O-ok! I won’t leave, I swear. Just, Pa what’s goin’ on?” Gabe could tell that Jesse was trying to keep calm, that he was doing everything he could to be strong despite being terrified. Gabe just wished he could say something that would make the boy feel better.

“I don’t know, kiddo, I wish I could tell you,” Gabe admitted, pulling up in front of his mother’s house with a screech of tires.

Barely hesitating long enough to turn off the car, Gabe sprinted up to the door and began sifting through the keys in his hand. Selecting the correct key with shaking fingers, Gabe was almost unable to get the key into the lock. Taking a deep breath to steady his hands, Gabe finally managed to get the door open and with a grunt, pushed his way inside.

“Jesse, I’m here! Where are you?” He called into the house, feeling the tension melt off his shoulders when the familiar sound of his son’s heavy footsteps immediately sounded upstairs. 

Before Gabe could take the first step up the stairs, Jesse slammed into him with enough force to nearly send him falling backward. The moment that Gabe’s arms wound around the seventeen year old's shaking form, the boy’s gangly arms wrapped around his shoulders and his tremors dissolved into full-bodied sobs.

Letting the boy hang off him for a few moments, Gabriel pulled back after Jesse had a moment to calm himself. Looking the boy over slowly, he felt some of the panic in his chest start to dissipate. From what he could see, Jesse appeared to be mostly intact. His usually unmanageable hair was mussed, his favorite plaid button up torn at the shoulder, and his jeans stained with blood and dirt. Outside of scraped knees, it didn’t seem that his boy was injured.

“Are you hurt?” He asked, just to be sure, sighing with relief when Jesse shook his head. “Good, now where’s your Abuela?”

 “She’s upstairs in her room, I got her bandaged up as best I could,” Jesse explained, turning and jogging up the stairs. “She said she was real tired, so I put her in bed so she could rest while I waited for you to get here. I didn’t know what else to do.”

“You did fine, mijo, I’m here now,” Gabe insisted, catching Jesse’s hand before he could pull open the door.

 If the rumors were true, if whatever it was that was making people go mad was spread through a bite, there was no way he was letting Jesse into that room until he was sure his mother was alright.  He didn’t know what he was about to walk into, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let Jesse see.

“Pa?” Jesse frowned, looking up at his father with confusion obvious in his dark eyes.

“I need you to listen to me alright? Go downstairs and make sure that all the doors are locked and the windows are closed,” Gabe ordered, his grip not wavering around his son’s wrist. “Then I want you to go into the garage and grab the big duffle bags that we took camping last summer. Take them into the kitchen and fill them up with as much food and water as you can.” Jesse’s distress only seemed to increase at the orders, his eyes widening to an impossible size as he looked from his father’s face to the door.

“Somethin’ real bad’s happenin’ ain’t it?” Jesse whispered softly, his hand shaking in Gabe’s grip. “First school got canceled because of that flu that’s been goin’ around, now people are attackin’ other people outta the blue. It’s like somethin’ out of a damn horror movie! I ain’t a kid anymore, just tell me what’s going on!” He snapped, the terror on the boy’s face enough to break Gabe’s, heart.

Gingerly releasing Jesse’s wrist, Gabe rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder with a shaking sigh. What the hell was he supposed to say? He had no idea what was going on. He wanted to reassure Jesse, to tell him that everything was going to be alright, but he wasn’t sure that it was going to be. He was the parent. He was the one who was supposed to make sure that everything was alright, and for the first time in Jesse’s life, he was at a complete loss. Jesse was right though, he wasn’t a little kid anymore.

That didn’t make the situation any easier.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Gabe insisted, keeping a firm grip on Jesse’s shoulders as he spoke. “What I do know is right now I need to take care of your Abuela. Then we need to get as far away from this city as we can as fast as we can. That means that I need you to listen to what I’m telling you to do, comprende?”

Jesse didn’t seem to like the answer but appeared to understand it was the only answer he was going to get. Nodding, Jesse pulled away from Gabe and trotted down the stairs leaving his father to deal with whatever was waiting for him on the other side of his grandmother’s bedroom door.

 Waiting until his son disappeared down the stairs, Gabe felt himself slump against the door.

 He was so damn tired.

Whatever was waiting for him on the other side of the door, he wasn’t ready for it.

His hand hung uselessly at his side, a led weight he didn’t have the will or energy to lift. Fighting back the exhausted tears that built at the corners of his eyes, Gabe looked up towards the sky and prayed to anyone that was listening that his mother was ok. Then, forcing his fingers to wrap around the knob, he pushed open the door.

“Mama, I’m here. Are you alright?”

Gabe’s voice hung unanswered in the air.

Heart pounding in his ear, he moved forward into the room and was immediately assaulted with the unfortunately familiar tang of blood. It was everywhere, smeared across the usually immaculate bed, the floor, and walls leaving a grizzly trail towards the open bathroom door. He had seen scenes like this before dozens of times before, but it had never been someone he knew. Someone he loved.

Head reeling dizzily, Gabe had to catch himself on the dresser to keep from falling backward. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself forward again. The trail of blood that started in the bedroom continued into the bathroom, bloodied handprints mapping out a morbid path for him to follow. If his mother was alive, she was hurt badly, and he would be damned if he let her suffer any longer.

“Mama?” He tried again hesitantly, edging towards the open door.

A soft moan barely loud enough for him to pick up sounded in the bathroom. Heart thundering in his chest, Gabe reached out and with a shaking hand pressed the door open the rest of the way.

Her hair was down.

Of all the things for him to focus on, the fact that his mother’s hair hung free from the bun she normally wore at the base of her neck was far from the most important, but for some reason, it was all that he could focus on. In his entire life, there was only a handful of times he could remember her wearing her hair down. It got in her way, she would say. She would swear up and down that she was going to cut it off, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. After all, her husband loved her hair.

Every day for Gabe’s entire life, the first thing his mother would do in the morning was pull her hair back. The fact that it wasn’t left his heart sinking in his chest.

“Ma?” The word fell like a desperate plea from his lips, though his hope for a response was quickly fading.

With shuffling steps, his mother turned to face him, and immediately Gabe felt what was left of his hope crumble away.

Fawn colored eyes that usually shone with life were covered in a milky white film. The bite mark that Jesse described was no longer bleeding, though it was easy to see just how deep the wound was. The skin around the wound was bloodless and ashen, the veins standing out like trails of ink against the usually caramel colored skin.

The fact that his mother was standing at all was nothing short of astounding, and if it wasn’t for the fact that she had just turned to look at him, he would be certain that she was dead. He wasn’t sure what to do, his mind going completely blank at the sight of his mother in such a state. She didn’t give him a chance to gather his thoughts.

A horrendous shriek unlike anything Gabe had ever heard fell from his mother’s lips seconds before she launched herself at him. Yelping in surprise, Gabe lurched back crying out in surprise when his boot slid out from under him sending him crashing bodily into the pool of blood on the bathroom floor. His head smacked against the tile as he fell, sending a fresh wave of nausea and disorientation rolling through him.

 His mother was on top of him in an instant, the woman’s teeth sinking into his shirt and glancing off the Kevlar vest underneath. Horrified and stunned, it was only on reflex that Gabe could hook his leg between them and send her flying backward into the bathtub. Lunging to his feet as she turned on him with an animalistic hiss, Gabe jerked backward and cried out when her fingers snagged onto his ankle and sent him crashing back to the ground with a painful thud.

Teeth gnashed centimeters away from his calf, tattered nails dug painfully into his skin. He was going to die.

Seconds before her teeth could find their mark, a gunshot cracked through the air and just like that the attack came to a screeching halt. The ravenous look in his mother’s eyes faded, and with a final sigh, she collapsed.

“P-Pa?” Jesse’s voice broke as the Glock in his hand clattered to the ground, his panicked eyes locked onto the body in front of him. “I didn’t- I’m sorry I- she was going to kill you! I didn’t know what else to do!” He rasped, his terrified voice forcing Gabe to drag his eyes away from his mother’s motionless form.

His mother was dead, but his son was still very much alive and he needed him to be strong for him.

Slowly peeling himself off the floor, Gabe tore his eyes away from his mother’s motionless form. Turning towards Jesse, Gabe reached out and pulled the trembling boy into his arms. Pressing the boy’s face to his shoulder, Gabe closed his eyes as Jesse crumpled in his arms with a full-bodied sob.

He had been stupid. He slipped up, and it was Jesse who paid the price.

“You did what you had to do,” Gabe whispered, tears dripping down his face as he held the boy against him firmly. “That wasn’t- that wasn’t your Abuela, alright? Your Abuela was already dead. I know it doesn’t make sense, but right now? What’s important is that you and I are alright. I need you to be brave for me, mijo.” He mumbled softly, reaching behind him and closing the door with a shaking hand.

 Jesse nodded dully in response, looking dazed as he leaned heavily against his father’s chest. Letting out a shaking breath, Gabe forced himself to remain as calm as possible. He could panic later, he needed to get Jesse as far away from the city as possible.

 “C’mon,” Gabriel muttered, coaxing the boy towards the hall.

Hesitating in the doorway, he turned back towards the room and reached out to pluck the gun off the ground. Rotating the revolver in his hands, Gabe sighed as he brushed his thumb over the pearl inlaid hilt. He’d gotten the gun for Jesse’s sixteenth birthday, he had always been such a fan of old western movies as a small child that it only seemed fitting that his first gun would be a Smith and Wesson six-shooter. Jesse loved it, and had even fondly dubbed the gun ‘Peacekeeper’.

Moving back to Jesse’s side, he pressed the gun back into Jesse’s palm.

“I want you to keep this on you, alright?” Gabe ordered gently, his hand coming to rest on Jesse’s shoulder. “I know you’re scared, and I wish more than anything that I could protect you from what’s happening, but I don’t really see how I can at this point. Your Abuela is gone, and I don’t know what’s going on. What I do know is we can’t focus on that now. We are alive, and we’ve got to work together to make sure we stay that way. We’re a team, we always have been, right?”  He coaxed, ushering the boy into the hallway and closing the door to the bedroom behind them.

Jesse looked hesitantly back at him, his fingers shaking around the revolver resting in his palms. For a moment, Gabe wasn’t sure if Jesse would be able to pull himself out of the panic that gripped him. He didn’t have a chance to speak again, taking a shaking breath, Jesse nodded as he returned the revolver to the holster at his side. Glancing up at his father with a sad smile on his trembling lips, Jesse wiped the tears from his cheeks and nodded.

“Y-yeah, right, we-we’re a team,” Jesse nodded, sending a swell of pride shooting through Gabe’s chest.

Sending a final glance towards the bedroom door, Gabe wrapped his arm around Jesse’s shoulder and led the boy down the stairs. He wasn’t there to protect his mother, but he would be damned if he let anything take his boy away from him.

 

 


	2. The Hospital

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: blood, gore, and profanity. I don't know what you expected reading a zombie fic, but I thought I'd give you another heads up. Sorry it took so long to update, but I promise it was worth the wait!  
> Welcome back to the apocalypse. Have a nice day!

Chapter Two

Gabriel

The gas light had been on for a little over half an hour before Gabe’s truck began to let out a soft beep alerting him to the fact that there was a very short amount of time before his truck stalled out completely. He had been doing everything he could to ignore the signal, not wanting to stop for gas until they were as far away from Southern California as possible. Just a few more miles, he would tell himself, and they could stop.

It had been six weeks since the infection first appeared in the news. Six weeks since everything that he knew had been torn away from him. Six weeks since he’d seen his home, or gotten a decent night’s sleep.  He and Jesse had been doing whatever they could to escape the chaos, but no matter where they went the disease seemed to have spread that much further.

The freeways were impassable, too crowded with people fleeing from the cities for them to even attempt. He sometimes found himself wondering how many of them were still stuck there, waiting for the cars to move in hopes that wherever they were heading was better than where they were. He wondered how many of them had died, overrun by the creatures following them out of the city.

Men, women, children. The creatures didn’t seem to care who they murdered. Leaving the city, Gabe had seen entire families torn apart by the ravenous crowds. There had been dozens of times where people had tried to get him to stop, to let them into the truck, but he knew that if he did they would be overrun too. No matter how desperately he wanted to help them, he had to make a choice between being a hero and keeping his son alive.

Glancing over at the passenger’s seat, Gabe felt his resolve solidify at the sight of his son curled up against the door. He wasn’t sure how Jesse managed to do it, but even after everything that happened, he could fall asleep almost instantly. He supposed he should be happy, at least one of them was sleeping.

They were tired, filthy, and hadn’t slept in an actual bed since things had started to go to hell. He knew full well that they needed to find somewhere safe to sleep for a night or two, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop for longer than a few hours for a restless nap.

He needed sleep. They needed to stop, eat, and rest at least for a night.

Gritting his teeth to fight back the apprehension building in the pit of his stomach, Gabe forced himself to pull off the road and into the parking lot of a small gas station. From what he could tell, the area was completely uninhibited. There were a few scattered cars abandoned on the side of the road, but unlike the cities South of them, he couldn’t find any signs of the infected wandering around the streets.

 “Ngh…Pa? Why we stoppin’?” Jesse’s voice slurred from beside him, the teenager peeling his face off his drool-soaked pillow and looking groggily around them. “Where are we?” He asked, wiping his chin clean with the back of his hand and stretching with a yawn.

 “In a town just an hour or so North of Redding,” Gabe explained, pulling up to one of the gas pumps and shutting off the truck. “Remember Shasta Lake? We’ve been up here a few times to go fishing with your cousins.”

Jesse seemed to perk up instantly at the information, a broad grin forming on his lips as he tossed his pillow out of the way so he could look around the small town they’d stopped in.

“Can we see the lake from here?” Jesse asked, undoing his seatbelt as Gabe slipped out of the truck and scrambling outside to join him.

“We’re still a bit away from the lake, but we’ll see it when we get on the road again I promise,” Gabe chuckled, feeling the tension from the drive melt away at the excitement on his son’s face.

It had been a long time since he and Jesse had gone on a trip just the two of them. Between work and Jesse’s school, it was almost impossible for him to schedule vacations. Watching his son peer around the town excitedly, he felt a pang of guilt in his stomach. Why hadn’t they gone fishing more? Why hadn’t they gone camping, or to the movies, or just driven up to the beach? He had gotten so busy with work he forgot to take time and enjoy time with his son.

Turning his attention onto the gas pump, Gabe let out a relieved noise when he realized that the station blessedly still had power running. He had figured the dam would keep things running for a while, but he had driven through so many areas that were completely blacked out he was starting to think that no one had any power left.

“Do yah think we could maybe do some fishin’ or somethin’? I mean I doubt there’s anyone out here that’ll care if we have a permit or not.” Jesse chirped from his position in the bed of the truck, drawing Gabe out of his thoughts once more.  “And fish would be a hell of a lot better than what we’ve been eating.”

“I thought you liked my cooking,” Gabe teased, hooking the pump up to the truck and snagging an empty duffle bag from the bed of the truck. “I suppose we could check out the lake, see if we can find a spot to fish for a bit.”

“I like yer cookin’, but I’m sick of canned and dehydrated food,” Gabe snorted in agreement at Jesse’s words, he was just as sick of eating on the road as the kid was. “Fresh fish would be a nice change of pace, don’t you think?” Jesse added, hopping out of the back of the truck and following his father into the gas station with his own duffle bag on his shoulder.

The lake wouldn’t be a terrible place to camp out. They’d been on the road for weeks, bouncing from California to Nevada and back again to stay away from the chaos of the cities. If they could find an open house, he supposed it wouldn’t be a terrible plan for them to relax for a few days.

“You know what? I think you’re right, we’ll stay here for a few days, how does that sound?” Gabe suggested, tugging on the gas station door and cursing when he realized it was locked. 

“Really!? I thought you wanted to stay on the road!” Jesse gasped, taking a step back when Gabe waved him back a beaming grin on his face. Nodding, Gabe took a step back and with a grunt slammed his foot into the metal right beside the lock on the door

The door popped open with a resounding screech of protest, the shatterproof glass cracking under the force of his kick. With one last kick to force the door the rest of the way open, Gabe held up his hand to keep Jesse back as he peered into the darkness of the shop.

Unlike many the stores in the cities, the shelves inside the small shop were still stocked, the floors spotless, and the counters neat as though the shopkeepers had simply stepped outside for a moment.  It was a strange juxtaposition to the plundered stores in the city. He just hoped that the rest of the small town was as untouched as the small isolated gas station.

“Ah look, Pa! Their fridges are still working!” Jesse gasped excitedly, darting past his father and letting out a grunt when Gabe snagged onto the hood of his sweatshirt and hauled him back again.

“What did I tell you about doing that?” Gabe scolded, his eyes flickering towards the unlit back half of the store. “Just because we don’t see anything doesn’t mean that there’s nothing in here. You need to learn to be more alert to your surroundings.”

Jesse pulled a face but thankfully didn’t argue with Gabe. Instead, he slunk back to his spot behind Gabe with a grumble. Satisfied that Jesse wasn’t going to try to go off on his own again, Gabe made his way into the store and after a quick glance around the empty shelves waved his son over to the fridges.

“I think we’re in the clear, go ahead and check out the fridges,” Gabe insisted, moving behind the cash register and ringing up two hundred dollars’ worth of gas. “Make sure you grab plenty of water and real food before you start throwing a soda in there. I’m going to go fill up the tank and those spare gallon jugs.” He explained, an amused smile forming on his lips as Jesse looked up from where he was shoving an ice-cream bar into his mouth to give him a thumbs-up.

Satisfied that Jesse was safe enough inside the store, Gabe made his way out to the truck and flipped open the gas canister. Leaning back against his truck once gas was pumping into the empty tank, Gabe glanced over at the tree line surrounding them and felt a strange feeling of calm settle over him.

They wouldn’t be able to stay where they were forever. They weren’t nearly far enough away from the chaos of the cities, but at least for the moment, they could take a few days to recover from weeks on the road.

Closing his eyes as he leaned back against his truck, Gabe took a moment to relish in the cool fall air swirling around him. The setting sun was hidden away behind a thin veil of clouds, the towering trees around him swaying slowly in the gentle breeze. Distantly, he wondered why he had never moved to Northern California, it was so much nicer than the sunbaked desert of the South.

Far away from the chaos in the city, all he could hear was the chirp of birds flitting through the trees, the wind in the trees, and distantly the sound of tires on asphalt.

Gabe’s eyes flew open with a start when he heard the truck approaching. A screech of worn brakes, and the rumble of a diesel engine, and suddenly a massive truck was sitting between Gabe’s truck and the road out of time.

Immediately, Gabe felt his heart clench in his chest, his hand fluttering down to the Glock at his side and his eyes fluttering towards the store where Jesse was still hidden.

“Stay put kiddo,” He muttered under his breath, his eyes flickering back towards the truck as the doors swung open and a group of six people stepped out into the open.

The group consisted of a group of four burly men all of them Gabe’s age or older, and two women who looked just as dangerous as the men they accompanied. Each member of the group was armed to the teeth, and the way that they were holding their weapons told Gabe that they weren’t there to make friends.

“Well now, what have we got here?” One of the women, a tall slender blond with a rifle strung across her back asked, moving to the front of the group and eyeing Gabe with an irritated look on her face. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that it’s rude to steal?” She demanded, gesturing to the pump still attached to Gabe’s truck.

Glancing over at the pump, Gabe raised an eyebrow, turning back towards the woman with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Given the state of the world, I think it’s fair that I assumed that this place was abandoned,” Gabe pointed out, his eyes scanning over the group as they loomed towards him. “How about we chalk this up to a simple misunderstanding and I’ll pack up my things and leave? No need for this to get violent.”

“You’re funny, where the hell's the rest of your group?” The woman demanded, her eyes scouring the area for signs of anyone else in the vicinity.

“Just me, I’m just passing through the area, didn’t realize that anyone else was here,” Gabe lied, catching a flicker of movement in the gas station out of the corner of his eye moments before one of the men lurched forward and slammed him against the side of his truck. “Easy!” He grunted, swearing when he felt icy steel press against his throat.

“You’ve got a lot of neat stuff in this truck, you military?” The blond asked, plucking one of the MRE’s out of the back.

“Former, I guess I never got out of the habit of being prepared for the worst,” Gabe grunted, glaring at the man holding him at knifepoint. “Look, let me go, and you can have whatever you want out of the back.”

“Or we can kill you, and take what we want,” The blond smirked, tossing one of her friends the MRE so she could continue to dig through the bed of the truck. “We wouldn’t want you hanging around and trying to get your stuff back would we?” Gabe let out a harsh breath, his eyes flickering up towards the amused looking man holding him in place.

“Six weeks and you’re already a bunch of lawless murderers?” He grumbled, grimacing when the pressure of the blade increased, drawing a thin line of blood under the blade.

“We’re just planning ahead is all, there are gangs all across the state staking their claim on areas,” She explained, winking over at Gabe, “For all we know, you’re one of them, and if we let you live you’ll report back our location. It’s nothing personal, I promise. Travis? Go ahead and finish him off, would you? I want to head back before dark.”

“Sure thing,” The man holding Gabe sneered, his foot slamming into the back of his legs and forcing Gabe to his knees his hand jerking his head back to reveal his throat. “Sorry, end of the line pal.”

“No!” Gabe’s heart lurched in his chest as Jesse’s terrified voice filled the air behind them.

Before the rest of the group realized what was happening two shots rang through the air and the man holding Gabe crumbled to the ground in a heap blood splattering over the ground below them. Gabe didn’t hesitate, rolling away from the man’s body he pulled out his own gun and fired three rounds into the blond who ordered his death sending her crumbling before she could figure out which way the shots were coming from.

Jerking to the side, Gabe narrowly dodged a swing from a baseball bat. Snagging onto his assailant’s wrist, Gabe hauled him forward and sent his arm over his knee snapping it with a fluid motion. Howling in pain, the man jerked backward receiving a bullet between the eyes when Gabe spun around.  

The remaining woman shrieked as she threw herself at Gabe, her arms wrapping around his neck from behind. Hissing furiously, Gabe lunged backward slamming her into the side of his truck. Hearing shots go off behind him, Gabe hauled the woman over his shoulder and sent her crumbling to the ground. Finishing her off with another shot, he looked up and spotted Jesse dive behind a cluster of trees line to avoid the two remaining men pursuing him.

“No you don’t, you bastards,” Gabe snarled lunging forward and firing two shots at them sending them scattering for cover. Swearing as their gunfire focused in on him, Gabe grunted when a bullet clipped his shoulder sending him lurching back behind the side of the building.

Years of training settled over Gabe allowing him to control his breathing and calm his racing thoughts. Two men left. One had a gun, an AR while the other a nasty looking machete. He had ten bullets left, that was more than enough to do the job. Gritting his teeth, Gabe rolled out from his cover, leveling his gun at the first man and firing. Swearing when the bullet barely grazed him, he kept running hitting the tree line seconds before bullets sprayed the ground where he’d just been standing.

He let the men come to him, take them out in the trees before they knew what hit them. He trusted Jesse knew to circle around and meet him by the truck. For the moment, he didn’t have to worry about the boy.

Skidding through the trees, Gabe grunted as he slid down a small embankment pulling himself to a stop before he landed in the small spring at the bottom. Pulling himself up against a massive spruce, Gabe took a shaking breath and listened hard for the footsteps following him through the trees.

 They were trying to be quiet, but Gabe could pick up the crack of sticks and rustle of foliage easily. Waiting for one of the men to pass him, Gabe immediately identified him as the man with the machete. Steeling himself, he waited for the rifleman to step past before he acted. Two shots and both men collapsed in a heap at the bottom of the spring, leaving Gabe standing alone in the forest.

“Nothing personal,” Gabe spat, reaching up to press his palm against the gash on his shoulder with a hiss.

It only took him a few minutes to find his way back to the gas station. Worry surged through him when he didn’t immediately spot Jesse. Trotting up to the truck, Gabe felt panic grip at his chest. Jesse wasn’t in the truck, he hadn’t come back yet.

Turning back towards the forest, Gabe sprinted back towards the patch of forest he’d seen his son disappear into. Scanning over the trees, he immediately felt his heart stop dead in his chest.

A bloodied handprint stood out like a beacon against the bark. Splatters of crimson made a trail through the undergrowth, leaving Gabe breathless as he stumbled forward. Instantly, any pain he’d been in faded away. He needed to find Jesse.

“Jesse!” Gabe’s bellowed into the trees, following the trail through the forest. “Jesse! Answer me!” He didn’t care who or what else heard him. He would rather they came after him anyway. “Jesse!”

“Pa?” Gabe would have missed the soft voice completely if he hadn’t been listening so hard for it. Jerking to a stop instantly, Gabe felt his heart lurch in his chest when he spotted Jesse curled up in the roots of a massive tree.

“Jesse,” Gabe rasped, lurching forward and immediately pulling the boy into his arms. “Are you alright?” He demanded, pulling back and gritting his teeth when he saw the blood running down Jesse’s arm like a river.

“I-he shot me when I was runnin’ away,” Jesse grimaced, biting down on his knuckle to keep from crying out when Gabe gingerly peeled off his sweatshirt to reveal the gaping wound just centimeters away from the bulletproof vest that Gabe insisted he wore.

Gabe wasn’t a doctor. He wasn’t even trained as a field medic. Everything he learned about medicine was enough to keep himself and his team alive until they could find a medic. Jesse was hurt, and hurt badly. From what Gabe could tell, the bullet had gone straight through Jesse’s shoulder and out the other side.  That was good in some ways, but devastating in others. If he could find a way to close the wound, Jesse would be alright. If not? He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he couldn’t.

“You’re alright, kiddo, I’m going to patch you up alright?” Gabe promised, sitting back and tearing off his own hoodie and tying it around the wound as tightly as he felt comfortable. The last thing he wanted was to wind up costing Jesse his arm. “Is that too tight? Tell me if you can still feel your fingers,” he asked, reaching out and lightly slapping Jesse’s cheek to keep him focused. “Talk to me, mijo.” He ordered, sighing when Jesse’s unfocused eyes locked onto him.

“It’s not too tight,” Jesse mumbled, clenching his eyes shut with a hiss when Gabe pulled back.

“Good,” Gabe said, reaching out to brush sweat-soaked strands of hair out of Jesse’s face. “Now, this isn’t going to feel good, but I’ve got to carry you back to the truck, alright?” Gabe insisted, earning a curt nod from the pale looking boy.

“Yessir,” Jesse mumbled, yelping when Gabe swept him up into a fireman’s carry with relative ease.

Gabe tried to keep the panic out of his face as he sprinted back towards the truck. Keeping Jesse balanced on his shoulders, he fought to think of what he was going to do. The medkit in their truck had basic supplies, but nothing that was designed to help with a wound as severe as Jesse’s. He needed stitches, pain killers, lots of clean bandages, and antibiotics.

Steeling himself, Gabe sprinted back towards their truck as quickly as he could. If Jesse needed better medical supplies, he was going to get him better medical supplies even if that meant going back to the cities and tearing apart every zombie he could get his hands on.

“You’re gonna be alright, mijo, I’m going to get you patched up,” Gabe promised, pulling open the passenger side door of his truck the moment they reached it and settling Jesse down onto the seat. “Sit tight, and keep the pressure on that wound. We’re going to get you somewhere that we can fix up that arm of yours.” Jesse nodded, looking back at Gabe with barely concealed terror in his eyes.

Pressing a kiss to the top of the boy’s head, Gabe quickly rushed to the other side of the truck. Tearing the pump from the tank, he closed it before leaping into the front seat and revving up the engine. He had a lot of ground to get to the nearest hospital, he just hoped that when they arrived, there wouldn’t be an army of undead standing between him and what he needed.

***

The nearest hospital to the lake was less than ten minutes away with Gabe driving as fast as he was. Pulling up in front of the massive building with a screech of tires, Gabe felt his stomach drop when he spotted at least dozens of the infected stumbling around the parking lot aimlessly.

Blistered by the sun, and in various states of decay, the creatures moved like cattle through the small city’s streets. They had been avoiding towns as much as possible, but the few times that they had passed by them Gabe had seen the chaos left behind by the disease. People ran through the streets, hunted by packs of the undead. Gunshots filled the air as those left trying to survive fought back. There had always been signs of life, but there was nothing that Gabe could see that hinted that there was anyone left in the city.

 Drawn by the sound of his tires, a chorus of broken moans reverberated through the air. The creatures turned towards the truck with growls and moans of hunger, forcing him to pull away before they could surround the truck.

 “Son of a bitch,” Gabe swore furiously, swerving out of the parking lot and back onto the road.

There was no way he was getting up to the hospital in the truck. They would see him long before he could get close. Parking a block away from the hospital, Gabe slumped back in his seat and ran his fingers through his hair shakily.

What the hell had he been expecting? The hospitals had been the epicenters for the disease. The infected were brought in to be treated in droves, and when they changed it was only a matter of time before they would bite and infect someone else in the building.

“What’re we goin’ to do, pa?” Jesse slurred softly, looking up at Gabe with obvious pain on his face.

For the moment, it seemed that the bleeding had slowed with the help of Gabe’s makeshift bandage. Jesse had been intaking a significant amount of fluids to help replenish the liquids he was losing, but that didn’t mean that he was in the clear. He would still need stitches, antibiotics, and clean bandages if they wanted to be sure that his arm didn’t get infected.

“There’s gotta be a pharmacy or somethin’ around here, right? Maybe we should drive around and look,” Jesse attempted again, leaning against Gabe’s shoulder with a shiver. “Can you maybe turn up the heat?” He asked with a shiver, wrapping his arms around his knees as his sweat soaked forehead pressed against his knees.

“Sure thing, kiddo,” Gabe said, reaching out to turn up the heat and glancing over at his son with a worried expression on his face.

Jesse was a tough kid. Gabe knew that he was trying to be brave despite the pain he was obviously in. He wished more than anything that he could have been the one who got shot, but wishing didn’t accomplish anything. Reaching out, Gabe pressed his palm against Jesse’s forehead relieved to find that he wasn’t yet running a fever. A fever was bad. A fever meant that Jesse had an infection, and right then infections were very, very dangerous.

“Keep drinking, alright?” Gabe mumbled, undoing his seatbelt and sliding out of the truck. “I’ve got a plan, but you aren’t going to like it.” He pointed out, pulling open the back door and pulling out a massive duffle bag he had stashed in the backseat.

“What’re you doing?” Jesse demanded, grimacing as he sat up to look back at his father. “You can’t seriously be planning on going into the hospital! You saw how many biters were wandering around outside! We should just go find a pharmacy.”

Gabe exhaled softly at the distress in his son’s voice, pulling open the bag and producing an ax, two nasty looking hunting knives, and a shotgun from inside. Digging inside for a moment, Gabe let out a noise of satisfaction when he found the small devices he’d been looking for. Two-way radios, ones that he’d taken from the back of his police car before they’d left.

“The first things that people loot when things go to hell anywhere in the world are pharmacies and liquor stores,” Gabe explained as he attached the weapons onto his person, and pocketed one of the devices. “Finding a pharmacy untouched in an area like this is going to be nearly impossible. I can promise you, that no one is desperate enough for supplies to try and raid the hospitals yet.”

  “No one ‘cept you, you mean,” Jesse said, biting his lip as he started to unbuckle his seatbelt. “I’m goin’ with you then.” He insisted, swaying slightly as he pressed open the door.

Biting his lip, Gabe moved around to the passenger side door. Jesse grunted as he slipped out of the truck, only staying on his feet with help from his father. Gabe could see the frustration on Jesse’s face mingling in with his desperation to stay with him.

“You’ve got to listen to me, alright, mijo?” Gabe sighed, walking Jesse around the truck and helping him up into the driver’s seat. “I need you to stay here and keep the motor running. If something goes wrong, I’m going to need to get out fast.” He pointed out, pressing the partner of his own radio into Jesse’s hand. “This has a range of fifty miles and is on the same sequency as the one I have on me. Just press the button on the side to talk, and release it to clear the channel. I need you to keep this on, and be ready to bring the truck around to get me, alright?”

Jesse opened his mouth to protest this, looking down at the radio in his hand for a moment before looking up at Gabe with a despondent look on his face.

“Y-you’ll come back, right? You promise you’ll come back?” Jesse’s voice shook as he spoke, his eyes welling up with unshed tears that he desperately tried to fight back. For a moment, Gabe wanted to forget his plan. He hated to see the pain on his son’s face, but a quick glance at the blood-stained fabric wrapped around Jesse’s shoulder was all he needed to steel himself.

“I will. It’s you and me against this, remember?” Gabe forced a smile onto his lips as he spoke, his hand moving out to ruffle Jesse’s hair gently. “I’ll be back before you know I’m gone.” He promised, pulling back and attaching his radio to his belt. “Keep that radio on!”

“Yessir!” Jesse nodded, rubbing at his eyes and closing the truck door.

Waiting until he heard the familiar sound of the lock clicking into place, Gabe turned towards the hospital and forced himself forward. It was just another mission, another trip into enemy territory, but this time the stakes were so much higher.

***

Approaching the hospital was proving to be a far more difficult task than Gabe anticipated. The parking lot was absolutely swarming with the undead, their ambling paths leading them aimlessly around the building. Every new noise would change their direction, making it nearly impossible for him to anticipate where they were going to move next.

After following their paths for a solid ten minutes, Gabe decided that his best course of action was going to be to draw as many as possible into one corner of the parking lot. That would give him time to loop around and enter the hospital while the thankfully unintelligent creatures were busy. Once that was over, all he would need to worry about was what was waiting for him inside the hospital itself.

Finding a car with its alarm on in the crowded parking lot was easy enough. Smashing the window was even easier.

Within seconds of hatching his plan, the blare of the alarm filled the air and Gabe’s plan was in motion.

Sprinting away from the car before the creatures could turn his way, Gabe made his way back out onto the street and moved around until he was a good distance away from the car.  Already he could see the infected in the parking lot lumbering towards the distressed vehicle.

Ax in hand, Gabe slowly weaved his way through the abandoned cars. Moving between two SUV’s, he grimaced when he realized that the door was hanging open. Inside, a horror show of blood and gore splattered across the seats. Stomach rolling, Gabe had to force himself to look away when he spotted a car seat strapped carefully into the backseat. He didn’t want to know if there was still a child inside the van.

Edging away from the car, Gabe finally managed to make his way up to the front doors.

 He’d been around dead bodies a lot in his career, the stench of death was something that someone never forgot. Rotting corpses, voided bowels, decay, he had been exposed to just about everything, but nothing could have prepared him for the stench permeating the humid air wafting out of the hospital.

Balking, Gabe’s reeled back and threw his hand over his mouth and nose with a full-bodied wretch. Eyes watering, it was all he could do to keep his stomach from emptying onto the sidewalk.

He hadn’t even thought about the smell. There was a gas mask in the truck, but he didn’t have time to go back for it. Fumbling through his pocket, Gabe snagged onto a container of vapor rub and smeared some under his nose to combat the stench threatening to overturn his stomach.

He’d taken to carrying the vial around since he was a rookie in the police force. One of his superiors had recommended it to him after watching him lose his lunch after a particularly gruesome murder scene. Typically, strong scent of the rub was usually enough to help subdue the odors he had to deal with almost daily.

Pulling his shirt up in front of his nose, Gabe took a few hesitant breaths through his mouth. Satisfied that he could handle the stench, Gabe grit his teeth and grabbed onto one of the partially open sliding glass doors. Hauling them open with a groan of effort, he stepped forward into the dimly lit lobby.

 Bodies. He had never seen so many bodies in his life. Blood stained sheets wrapped haphazardly around the corpses of what Gabe assumed to be those who the hospital couldn’t fit into the morgue. Each sheet was tied tightly around the ankles, arms, and neck of the bodies, while a series of bullet holes confirmed his suspicion that whoever had wrapped them had taken the time to make sure that the dead stayed that way.

For the thousandth time, Gabe was glad that he left Jesse behind. He didn’t want the boy to see this.

Edging his way around the bodies, Gabe quickly located a hospital directory and was relieved when he realized that he was only a unit away from the pharmacy.

In and out. He’d be back before Jesse had time to worry.

Ax in hand, Gabe weaved his way through the vacant hallways, relieved that the dam was still running power to the city. Finding the pharmacy was easy enough, and despite his previous fears he had only seen a handful of the infected lumbering aimlessly through the hospital.

Pressing against the pharmacy door, Gabe pulled a face when he quickly realized that the sliding glass door was locked securely.

“Of course, they took the time to lock it,” He grumbled under his breath, glancing over his shoulder to ensure there wasn’t any undead wandering behind him.

Satisfied that there was a good distance between him and the nearest zombie he slammed his ax against the glass with a growl. Instantly, the glass splintered, and after two more quick strikes came crumbling to the ground.

“Bingo,” He grinned, stepping through the open doorway and reaching down to snag his radio from the holster on his hip. “Jesse? I’m in the pharmacy, how you holdin’ up?” It only took a few moments for Jesse’s voice to come through the other end, the boy’s voice filled with relief.

“Pa! You’re alright! Are you headin’ back yet?”

“Not yet, gotta find the medicine you need first,” Gabe explained, searching through the aisles and letting out a victorious noise when he spotted the section he was looking for.

“Hurry back alright? I thought I heard gunshots somewhere close,” Jesse mumbled, his voice barely above a whisper. Gabe’s stomach twisted at the news, quickly shoving the antibiotics into his bag along with as many painkillers, bandages, stitch kits, and rubbing alcohol as he could find.

“I’m headed back now, stay put,” Gabe ordered, shouldering his bag and moving back to the door.

An inhuman growl was the only warning that he got before the infected tried to snag him through the doorway. Lurching back with a curse, Gabe lashed out with his ax the blade digging into the creature’s wrist before glancing off bone. Unbothered by the damage, the zombie continued to try and snag onto Gabe despite the shattered wrist it was now sporting.

                Raising the ax again, Gabe brought it down on the creature’s skull with a powerful swing sending it crashing to the ground in a heap. Tugging his weapon free with a grumble, Gabe glanced up when he caught the sound of footsteps shuffling towards him.

“You brought friends, huh?” he glared, stepping over the corpse and maneuvering his way into the hall.

The path he had taken in was blocked off. Rooms that he hadn’t thought to search were crawling with the infected awaken by the sound of his intrusion. Swearing angrily, Gabe turned on his heel and started as quickly as he could in the opposite direction.

Skirting around the corner, Gabe caught sight of a zombie wearing bright pink scrubs hobbling into the hall feet in front of him. Ducking out of his reach when his hands snaked out to grab onto him he sent his ax swinging upward into the creature’s neck leaving it pinned to the wall long enough for him to edge past before jerking his ax free.

 Already he could see more and more of the infected pouring into the halls. He was outnumbered badly, and with the hallway starting to fill with more grasping hands and gnashing teeth Gabe found himself slashing at anything that moved leaving the ax slick with blood in his hands. A final strike to one of the creatures’ skulls left it so embedded in its skull that it tore the weapon from his hand when he tried to pull it back. Swearing furiously, Gabe pulled one of the knives from the sheath at his side and darted into the first room that he saw with an open door.

Slamming the door shut behind him, Gabe winced when he heard bodies immediately start to slam against the wooden frame. The room he’d chosen was some sort of examination room, and the only way out that he could see was a small window that he prayed would be big enough for him to squeeze out of.

 Behind him, he could hear the door straining under the weight of dozens of the infected. He didn’t have time to reconsider his options.

Snagging onto a chair, Gabe climbed onto it and began to slam the hilt of his blade against the glass shattering it into a thousand pieces. Clearing away the shards as much as he could, Gabe grimaced when he heard the door let out a horrendous groan as it bowed dangerously around the lock.

“Shit,” He swore, snagging onto his backpack and shoving it through the window before hauling himself up and slowly began to pull himself through the hole he’d created.

For one terrifying moment, Gabe swore that his shoulders wouldn’t be able to make it through the gap. It took a bit of effort, but with a bit of maneuvering, he was able to haul himself through biting back a shout of pain when he felt left over glass digging into his skin through his t-shirt.

 Pulling his legs through the hole seconds before he heard the door collapse behind him, Gabe dropped onto the ground and snagged his bag off the ground. Looking down at himself in search of any signs of wounds he was satisfied to find that the only injury he’d obtained in his escape was the cuts from the glass.

Bleeding, out of breath, and terrified out of his mind, Gabe felt a surge of relief roll through him when he realized that he had done it. Somehow, he was alive.

Letting out a half-delirious laugh of relief, Gabe shouldered his backpack and immediately started to jog away from the death trap that was the hospital. Making it across the streets and away from the wandering hordes, Gabe reached down and snagged onto his radio once more.

“Jesse, I’m on my way back,” He explained, turning a corner into an alley behind a small grocery store.

“Are you alright? You sound outta breath,” Jesse’s voice appeared seconds later, worry still hanging around his words.

“I’m fine, I promise,” Gabe pointed out, a small smile on his lips when he heard Jesse sigh in relief before responding.

“Good, I was worried that you got hurt, or worse, promise next time you’re gonna take me with alright?” Jesse insisted.

“I told you I’d make it back didn’t I? Relax, mijo, I’m almost th-,”

A small form that Gabe didn’t spot until it was far too late shifted in his peripheral vision, and with a cry lashed out. Gabe felt something crash into the back of his head with enough force to send him crumbling to the ground in a heap. His radio skittered out of his hand as he landed, his vision swimming as he struggled to make out the shape moving over him.

“Pa! Pa what happened?!” Jesse’s frantic voice crackled through the radio just out of his reach.

Blackness ate at the corners of Gabe’s vision as he tried to roll over and attempt to defend himself from his attacker. He could distantly hear a voice, a girl’s, saying something, but his ears were ringing too badly for him to make out what she was saying. Feeling a pair of hands on his shoulder, Gabe groaned as he was rolled over with some effort.

The last thing that he saw before blackness engulfed his world was a confused pair of hazel eyes staring down at him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like my work? Buy me a coffee maybe! It helps make ends meet, and gives me more time to write more content for you!  
> Ko-fi.com/kaycooper


	3. A Rescue Without A plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, everyone! Time for Jesse to play hero. Let's see if he can get Gabe out of this mess. It's time for new characters, and our mystery woman, to be revealed!

Chapter 3

Jesse

“Pa! Are you alright? Answer me!” Jesse’s voice cracked as his father cut off mid-sentence with a grunt of pain. An eerie silence filled the air in the truck, and for a moment, Jesse was sure that his heart stopped in his chest.

Lifting the radio up to his lips with shaking fingers, Jesse closed his eyes as he willed the man on the other end to answer him.

 “Pa?”

The radio in his hands remained unresponsive. Jesse could barely breathe, the shock gripping his body was absolutely crippling. His Pa had been fine. He was only a few blocks away from the truck, but Jesse had no idea which direction he’d been coming from. He didn’t know where he was, if he was hurt, or worse. He didn’t know what to do! As the seconds dragged on, his shock faded away into a horrified realization:  for the first time in his life, he was completely and utterly alone.

Threading his fingers through his tangled hair Jesse felt a panicked sob fall from his lips and pressed his face to his knees. This was all his fault. If he hadn’t gotten hurt, his Pa wouldn’t have left him in the first place. They would be up at the lake, fishing and pretending for a moment that the world hadn’t fallen apart around them.

“Hello?” Jesse was so enveloped in his own grief, that for a moment he wasn’t sure that he’d heard the soft voice that sounded on his radio. “Is somebody there?” The voice attempted again, a bit louder this time.

Sitting up with a gasp, Jesse scrambled to lift the radio up to his lips, his heart pounding in his chest as he spoke.

 “I’m here! I’m here…I’m…who is this? Where’s my pa? What did you do to him?” He demanded, struggling to keep the tears out of his voice.

It took a moment for the voice to return, but when it did, it sounded hushed, panicked. The girl on the other end sounded about his age, maybe even younger. She had an accent of some sort, English or something. He couldn’t quite make it out from what he’d heard. Whoever she was, she sounded terrified, her voice shaking as she spoke into the radio in a voice barely above a whisper.

“He’s here, with me, I dragged him inside after I…” The voice cut off, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I didn’t mean to knock him out I swear! I got separated from my group, and when I heard him coming around the corner I panicked!  I thought he was one of the zombies.” She stuttered, her voice wavering with fear.

“Is he alright?” Jesse demanded, his heart clenching in his chest.

“He’s unconscious, but I think he’s alright,” The girl explained hurriedly, “I mean it’s probably good that I hit him when I did. He almost walked straight into a big group of the infected, there are dozens of them out there. I’m afraid to even talk too loud because they might hear me.”

Well shit.

Cursing softly, Jesse leaned back against the seat and reached up to rub at his eyes. What was he supposed to do? Was there anything that he could do? This girl was obviously not going to be able to carry his Pa out even if she could sneak her way past the infected swarming through the streets. If he could get to her with the truck, would they be able to get his Pa out before the infected closed in?

“Is it just you there?” Jesse asked, hopeful that maybe there was someone else there to help them.

“Just me and your dad,” She laughed humorlessly, "I got separated from the rest of my group about an hour ago, we were scoping out the hospital when a car alarm went off and the infected started to pour into the street,” She let out a soft sigh before continuing, worry leaving her words wavering on her lips. “I was with my dad and a couple others. I don’t know where they went, last I saw they were climbing up onto one of the roofs about a block away from where I am now.” As she finished, Jesse felt a pang of sympathy flood through him.

She was just as scared and lost as he was, and while she was trapped and running out of options, he still had the ability to do something. Steeling himself, Jesse sat up a bit straighter in his seat and shakily started up the truck.  Injured or not, he wasn’t going to let this girl or his father die. He’d watched plenty of action movies in his time, being a hero couldn’t be that hard, could it?

“Where are you exactly?” He asked, slowly pulling out of his hiding spot and moving onto the main road. “I’ve got a truck, I can come to you.”

“Really? That’s great!” The girl gasped, the fear disappearing from her voice and reforming as cautious optimism at the news. “There’s a grocery store just a few blocks away from the hospital, if you go out onto the main road there’s no way you won’t see it!”

“Alright, I’ll head towards you,” Jesse agreed, taking a few deep breaths before putting the truck in gear.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” She said the relief that she was feeling hanging from her words. For a moment, she didn’t speak, but as the silence dragged on her voice reappeared. “You know, I don’t think I ever got your name.” She pointed out, earning a smile from Jesse.

“Name’s Jesse, Jesse Reyes, and just in case he wakes up, my Pa’s name is Gabe,” He explained following the girl’s instructions, and moving out onto the main road slowly.

“My name’s Lena,”

“Well it’s mighty fine to meet yah, Lena,” Jesse grinned, his eyes scanning over the storefronts in search of the grocery store she was trapped inside. “Now let’s see if I can’t figure out where you and Pa are.” He muttered softly.

It wasn’t until he moved closer to the hospital, that he realized just how many infected had wandered into the streets. Almost immediately after appearing on the road, a handful of the undead swarmed around his truck their bloodied hands pounding against the sides. For a moment, he was terrified that there would be too many to make it to the store, but with a quick rev of his engine, he lunged forward through the horde crushing the creatures beneath his tires.

Letting out a noise of relief as he swerved away from the infected and back into a clearer section of the road, Jesse continued to scan the signs for the grocery store. As Lena said, it wasn’t difficult for him to find. The grocery store was one of the few free-standing buildings on the block, the massive sign marking its location still looming proudly over the street.

Of course, finding the building was not the problem. The problem was getting Lena and his Pa out. That, he quickly realized, was going to be a much more difficult task.

“I found the store, and you were right, there’s a metric fuck ton of those damn biters out here,” Jesse muttered into the radio, swerving to avoid another cluster of zombies before pulling into the parking lot.

“I can see you circling around out there,” Lena chirped after a few moments of silence, “Your dad is waking up, but I’m not sure he’s going to be able to walk out of here.” Jesse could hear the frown on the girl’s lips as she spoke, and once again Jesse was left wondering exactly what they were going to do.

“Shit,” Jesse grumbled, peering through the glass doors and after a couple seconds locating who he assumed to be Lena standing beside the customer service desk. “Don’t suppose you could carry him outside.” He muttered.

“Don’t be daft, I barely got him in here!” Lena snorted, crouching down once more when she was sure that Jesse had spotted her.

Leaning back in his seat, Jesse groaned and rubbed at his temples ignoring the sound of the infected pounding against the sides of his truck. Sitting up after a moment, Jesse grit his teeth and spun the truck around that the bed of the truck was lined up with the front doors.

“Then I guess I’m comin’ to you,” He declared, gripping onto the steering wheel with white knuckles. This was stupid, even for him. “Get ready to move!” He ordered before tossing the radio onto the dash.

“What? What are you…are you _mental_?” Lena’s voice shrieked from the dashboard.

Jesse didn’t give himself the chance to answer that question. Switching the truck into reverse, he slammed his foot down on the gas and braced for impact.

The truck slammed into the front doors with a resounding crash. Glass shattered, metal and wood went flying, and it took everything that Jesse had to remember to hit the brakes. Knocking through the shelves with a shriek of protest, the massive beast of a truck skidded to a halt.

The resounding silence was almost deafening. Slowly peeling his eyes off the floor of the truck, Jesse found himself staring at a gaping hole through the front of the store. A few feet away, a pair of stunned hazel eyes stared back at him from behind the customer service desk.

He survived.

He was alive!

Letting out a whoop of excitement, Jesse threw open the truck door and stumbled to his feet. The infected were slowly starting to make their way into the store, which didn’t give him much time to appreciate his feat. He still had to get his Pa and Lena into the car and away from the store after all.

“Stark raving mad! You are stark raving mad, you hear me!” Lena cried as he stumbled through the wreckage towards her. “And you’re injured! You didn’t tell me you were injured! Are you bit?” She stammered watching him slide behind the desk and kneel beside his Pa.

“Didn’t seem important at the time, and no, I ain’t bit! I got shot a few hours ago,” Jesse elaborated hurriedly, helping his disorientated looking father to sit up. “Hey Pa, we gotta go, alright? Can yah walk?” He asked, hooking his Pa’s arm around his shoulders with a hiss of pain.

“Nnh…’s goin’ on?” Gabe groaned, his head lolling to the side as he tried to force his eyes open.

“Gonna take that as a no,” Jesse grunted, heaving him upward with Lena’s help.

“We’ve got incoming,” Lena squeaked, straining to keep Gabe’s much larger form upward as they hobbled through the plaster and cement scattered across the floor.

Pulling open the back door of the truck with a groan of effort, Jesse helped Lena to heave Gabe into the back seat before slamming the door shut. Turning with a grunt, he barely missed the outstretched hand of one of the infected as they lurched forward. Stumbling backward, Jesse hissed, the wound on his shoulder letting off waves of pain.

His vision reeling, Jesse was terrified that he was going to pass out when he felt tiny but powerful hands pull him backward and away from the creature’s gnashing jaws. Stepping forward, Lena sent a shovel slicing through the air, the weapon connecting with the creature’s skull with a resounding crunch. Straightening once more, Lena pulled open the passenger side door and helped Jesse inside. 

“Don’t pass out on me now! We still have to get outta here!” She ordered once he was safely inside.

Crashing her shovel into the head of another zombie, she leaped backward into Jesse’s lap and pulled the door shut behind them mere moments before the next few infected collided with the side of the truck. Scrambling out of Jesse’s lap and into the driver’s seat, Lena grinned as she switched the car into drive and for a sickening moment it seemed that the truck wasn’t going to be able to crawl its way out of the destruction. Skidding out on the broken linoleum, smoke flooded out from under the tires before with a final screech the truck lurched forward crushing a few zombies on its way out.

Swerving through the hole Jesse had created moments before, Lena let out a whoop of excitement and crashing through a few more of the undead managed to maneuver the truck back out onto the open road.

Jesse laughed as he leaned back against his seat, his vision gradually starting to clear the more he could catch his breath. Sitting up with a groan of effort, Jesse pressed his palm against his steadily bleeding shoulder and glanced over at his newfound companion.

“I don’t know about you, but that was fuckin’ amazing,” He grinned, earning a beaming smile from Lena.

“You looked like an action hero pullin’ that stunt, I can’t believe it actually worked!” Lena agreed, her eyes flickering away from the road for a moment to meet his gaze. “Thanks for saving me, I know that you were probably just doing it for your dad, but you could have left me behind and you didn’t. So, thank you.”

“Well I wouldn’t be a very good person if left yah there, besides, there’s no way in hell that I would have been able to carry Pa out myself, so I really should be thankin’ you too,” Jesse pointed out, doing his best to keep pressure on his shoulder as blood oozed out over his fingers.

 “Where we headed anyway?” He asked after a moment of silence, noticing for the first time that Lena seemed to be driving as though she had a specific destination in mind.

“Somewhere safe, from the looks of yah, you’re going to need a doctor,” Lena shrugged, glancing over at Jesse with a grin. “Luckily for you, our group just happens to have one, and after that rescue mission you just pulled, I have a feeling they’re going to be more than willing to help you out.”

“No shit?” Jesse felt a surge of relief at the idea of seeing an actual doctor. He wasn’t sure how happy that his Pa was going to be about the whole situation, but he wasn’t awake enough to argue. “Well, that’s good because I’m not sure what I would do about the whole shoulder thing otherwise.”

Lena nodded, looking sympathetic as she made her way away from the town center and into a more residential area. There were fewer zombies in the area, which was a relief. From the look of things, people had cleared out of their houses before chaos reached them like they’d had time to prepare.

The houses were boarded up to dissuade looters, the streets clear of the usual abandoned cars and items left behind. It looked more like the people were anticipating a hurricane then the end of the world.

“Didja live out here before this all happened?” He asked, glancing over at Lena curiously.

“No, we lived in Oregon!” Lena chirped, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel as she kept a wary eye on the streets. “We’re from Eugene actually, a couple hours South of Portland which was hit really bad by the initial infection. Dad decided that it wasn’t safe to stay where we were, so me, my aunt started heading South hoping to avoid a lot of the really big cities. We ended up staying here on accident really…” She cut off as if debating on whether to tell him or not.

“Yah don’t have to tell me if yah don’t want, I understand,” Jesse insisted, smiling back at her reassuringly.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you, because I do, it’s that it’s not really my story to tell,” Lena pursed her lips, before letting out a sigh and shaking her head. “I’m sorry, all I can say is that there’s a pair of brothers who own the place where we’re staying, Genji and his brother Hanzo. Genji likes us being there, but his brother? He’s a nice guy once you get to know him, but he really doesn’t trust anyone. The only reason he let us stay is because we have a doctor with us.” Jesse frowned at this, but nodded, understanding why someone would have a hard time trusting strangers in the world they lived in.

“I suppose he ain’t gonna be happy you brought home strangers,” Jesse grinned over at her, chuckling at the nervous giggle that fell from her lips.

“Well even if he doesn’t, you’re here because you saved me, and besides, ever since we moved in my dad’s pretty much been in charge,” Lena smirked, looking rather smug at the fact. “Not like my dad was going to listen to a pair of teenagers anyway. Hanzo might not like it, but my dad is a bit more qualified to keep us all alive. He’s an ex-marine you know.” She explained proudly.

“No shit? My pa’s ex-military too,” Jesse hummed, glancing into the backseat where Gabe was still trying to wake himself up with little success.

“Well, they have plenty to talk about then!”

Jesse didn’t know about that, but if Lena’s dad was anything like his daughter Jesse was sure that Gabe would at least tolerate him.

Lena spent the next section of the drive telling him about her group. She explained that Ana, their doctor, was a longtime friend of her dad’s. Ana, her husband Reinhardt, daughter Fareeha, Hanzo, and Genji made up the rest of her group. She was impressed, knowing that Jesse and his Pa had been on their own for the entire time. It was hard enough surviving in a group as small as theirs, she explained.

Jesse had to agree with her on that. It had been difficult on their own, his shoulder was enough proof of that. He didn’t want to say it out loud, but he was hoping that his Pa decided he wanted to stay with Lena’s group. Having other people around that they could trust would be a nice change of pace. He decided not to worry about it, and instead allowed Lena to change the subject back to something lighter.

The conversation the rest of the drive was far more relaxed. They talked about school, the medals that Lena won competing on her school’s track team, and the motorcycle that Jesse had been begging his Pa to get him since he first turned sixteen. They were just starting to discuss their favorite movies when Lena pulled up in front of the nicest houses that he had ever seen.

To call the building a house was a bit of an understatement.  The mansion was easily one of the most expensive houses that he had ever seen. The multi-acre property was decorated with fountains and statues that looked more expensive than Jesse’s entire house. The building towered above the rest of the houses on the streets, the high arched windows casting a judgmental gaze over the smaller buildings that surrounded it. 

“This? This is where you’ve been livin’?” Jesse gasped, struggling to wrap his head around the idea of living anywhere half as nice as the mansion.

“Well, not exactly. The house is nice and all, but it’s not exactly defendable,” Lena explained, moving around to the back of the mansion and up to a massive garage before pulling to a stop just outside the massive metal doors.

“Yer livin’ in the garage?” He tried again, sitting up a little straighter to see as much of the mansion as possible. Giggling, Lena shook her head, pushing open the truck door and stepping outside.

“You’ll see! Hang on a tic, I can’t carry both you or your dad in so I’m going to go get my dad alright?” She insisted, glancing into the backseat where Gabe was slowly starting to sit up, cradling his head in his hands with a groan of pain. “Sorry about your head, Mr. Reyes.”

“I’d say I’ve had worse, but that would probably be a lie…whoever you are,” Gabe groaned, pushing open the back door and emptying his stomach onto the ground. “What the hell happened?” He grunted once his stomach was empty, wiping his mouth clean with the back of his hand. Jesse was opening his mouth to explain when he heard footsteps approaching them rapidly from behind the garage.

“Lena!” A gruff voice sounded seconds before an imposing blond man that looked to be about his Pa’s age scooped the girl up into his arms. Pulling back just enough to check her over for injury, the man let out a sigh of relief once he assured himself that she was fine.

Behind the blond, another man who could have easily been seven feet tall rushed forward to join his companion. The man was easily one of the most imposing men that Jesse had ever seen. Despite his age, the man had muscles that most twenty-year-olds would be envious of. The sledgehammer strapped to his hip looked like a toy in comparison to the man’s immense hands. Jesse would be lying if he said that he wasn’t threatened initially, but upon seeing the welcoming smile on the man’s lips, he felt himself slowly start to relax.

His Pa, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be put at ease in the slightest by the warmth on the man’s face. Gabe let out a cautious noise when the man approached them, his hand twitching towards the gun at his hip, braced to attack at the slightest provocation. Jesse could feel the anxiety roll off his Pa in waves, but after the day they’d had, he really didn’t blame him. Still, the last thing they needed was for him to wind up shooting someone and ruining their chance at seeing a doctor. Reaching out, Jesse rested his hand on Gabe’s shoulder.

“Pa, it’s alright,” He mumbled, waiting until his Pa had holstered his weapon before relaxing against the truck.

 “What happened?” The blonde continued, keeping his hands-on Lena’s shoulders, showing little interest in the two men standing behind her. “I looped back around to look for you, and couldn’t find you anywhere. I came back here hoping you’d found your way back, but Genji and Reinhardt said neither of them saw you. We were heading out to look for you when I saw the truck pull up,”

 “Well when I got separated, I tried to hide in one of the stores,” Lena started, pressing closer to the man Jesse assumed was her father and glancing sheepishly over at Gabe. “I mistook Mr. Reyes for a zombie and hit him over the head with a shovel. They had a radio, so I managed to get in touch with Jesse, his son. That’s him there.” She explained pointing over at Jesse who waved sheepishly over at the blond. “Jesse came and rescued us both by driving his truck through the front of the store!”

“You did what?” Gabe rasped, taking a moment to notice his truck for the first time and groaning when he saw the miserable state of the vehicle. “Jesse…I told you to stay where I left you. You’re hurt! You could have gotten yourself killed.” Jesse let out a flustered noise at this, glancing over at his Pa with a glare.

“I saved yer life, didn’t I? You and Lena woulda both died if I hadn’t done what I did,” Jesse argued, his palm still pressed against his wounded shoulder which Lena’s father seemed to take notice of for the first time.

“Are you bit?” The blond demanded, moving forward as if to pull back the makeshift bandage around Jesse’s shoulder. Immediately, Gabe lunged forward, catching onto the man’s hand and wrenching it backward painfully.

“Do not touch my boy,” Gabe’s voice was barely above a whisper, his grip white knuckled around the blonde’s wrist. Injured or not, Jesse knew that his Pa would try and kill the man if he felt it was necessary to protect him.

“Dad he’s not bit, honest! He got shot!” Lena interjected, her small frame doing its best to wedge between the two men. “I told Jesse that Ana would look at him! Please, Dad? He risked his life to save me even knowing that I knocked his dad out!”

For one heart-wrenching moment, Jesse wasn’t sure if the two were listening to a word she was saying. His Pa didn’t relinquish his hold on the blonde’s wrist and Lena’s father looked less than inclined to back down. It was the massive man behind the blond that finally eased the tension.

“Jack, calm yourself, these men are not our enemies,” He explained calmly, placing a hand on the blonde’s shoulder. “They have done us a great service by rescuing our Lena, I doubt that Ana will protest to assisting them.” He smiled warmly, squeezing the blonde’s shoulder.

Waiting for both men to slowly disengage, the massive man turned towards Jesse and extended a hand which Jesse quickly accepted.

“I am Reinhardt Wilhelm, it is a pleasure to meet such a courageous young man,” He smiled warmly, squeezing Jesse’s hand before pulling back.

Both Gabe and Jack seemed hesitant to let their guard down even after the man’s attempts to calm them. Eyeing each other warily, Jack let out a long breath through his nose before returning his attention to his daughter.

“Lena, we’ve talked about you talking to other people about our group,” The blond muttered, looking over at his daughter with a drained look on his face. Lena, with a stubborn look on her face, crossed her slender arms over her chest and nodded.

I know, but Jesse saved my life,” Lena pointed out stubbornly, looking between her father and Gabe. “We might not know each other very well, but I know that I can trust him.” Beside Jesse, Gabe snorted softly at this, rubbing his throbbing head as he spoke.

 “You can trust Jesse, but last I checked the only thing we’ve gotten from your group is head trauma,” Jesse let out a long sigh at his father’s words, his head spinning dizzily as he kept his palm pressed against his shoulder.

“Pa, it’s alright, honest,” Jesse mumbled, glancing over at his Pa with a small grin. “Besides, ain’t like we’ve got much choice in the matter. I’m dead on my feet over here, and you can barely stand up straight.”

The pair of parents regarded each other tensely, but begrudgingly, they seemed to give in to what their children were saying. Jesse knew that he was right, they really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

It was Lena’s father who caved first. Stepping forward, he sighed as he extended a hand for Gabe to shake which he reluctantly accepted.  

“I’m Jack, Jack Morrison, I’m sorry for the rough introduction, but I’m sure you realize that these aren’t exactly the easiest times to trust people,” Lena’s father explained, glancing over at Jesse and nodding a greeting. “You saved my daughter today, thank you.”

“Any excuse to drive a truck through a window,” Jesse grinned, swaying lightly on his feet. “Could we maybe see that doctor now? I ain’t sure I can keep standin’ much longer.” He slurred out, trying to keep the blackness out of the corners of his eyes.

 “Damn it,” Gabe hissed, his arms snaking out to catch Jesse before he could crumble to the ground. “Alright, fine, you said you have a doctor, take him to her. We can kiss and make up later.” He growled, moving to wrap Jesse’s arm around his shoulder only to nearly fall over himself.

This time, it was Jack and Reinhardt who reached out to catch the two in time. Steadying Gabe, Reinhardt shot him a look that dared him to protest before scooping Jesse up into his arms with relative ease. Jesse, in no mood to protest the treatment, let his head loll to the side, resting against the much larger man’s shoulder as a groan fell from his lips. With all the adrenaline gone from his system, he was starting to have issues keeping his eyes open.

“Don’t worry my boy, my wife will get you patched up in no time,” Reinhardt sighed, ignoring the dirty looks that Gabe was shooting his way. “Ana’s a gift from God, I’ve seen her perform some surgeries as a field medic that most doctors couldn’t compete in a hospital.”

Ahead of them, Lena trotted into the garage. Bypassing a collection of luxury vehicles, she slid up to a large cabinet and hauled open the doors. For a moment, Jesse wasn’t sure what she was doing, but watching her pressing against the back wall of the cabinet he felt excitement surge through him. With a groan of protest, the back gave way, revealing a set of stairs leading down into the ground below.

 “This is by far the coolest place I have ever been,” Jesse gaped, earning a laugh from Reinhardt.

“It is quite impressive, isn’t it? The man who owned this place was well prepared for the worst situations, though I believe that he was more concerned about law enforcement than he was the apocalypse,” Reinhardt chortled, having to duck his head to keep from hitting it against the ceiling. “Unfortunately, it was not designed for someone of my stature!”

“I don’t think that there are many places on this earth that are designed for someone your size, Reinhardt,” Jack snorted from behind them, hobbling down the stairs with a very reluctant looking Gabe pressed against his shoulder. “You’re heavy, you know that?” He smirked over at Gabe who glared.

“I didn’t ask you to help me,” Gabe shot back irritably.

“Would you rather I left you outside? You could barely stand, let alone walk,” Jack reminded him smugly.

“Fuck off blondie,”

“I think they like each other,” Lena giggled, pressing open a second much larger door at the bottom of the stairs with a groan of effort. “Dad doesn’t normally give people a hard time unless he likes them.” She explained, stepping into the space beyond the heavy steel door.

Jesse had seen a lot of bunkers in TV shows, movies, and online. Typically, they were small plain spaces with bare minimum furniture and a good stock of supplies. What was waiting for them on the other side of the door was nothing like what he had ever seen.

 Instead of a cramped box fit for little more than surviving, Jesse walked into what at first appeared to be a lavish upscale apartment building. A well-lit living room complete with plush leather couches, a flat screen TV, and shelves crammed with DVDs was the first thing that they walked into. From the doorway, Jesse could see a full kitchen, and a hallway lined with doors that left him wondering just how many wonders lied waiting for him.

 “Did…did I die?” Jesse gaped, looking up at Reinhardt with huge eyes. “There’s no way that this is real.”

“You are very much alive, my boy!” Reinhardt laughed, ruffling the boy’s hair gently. “We felt very much the same way the day that we first arrived.” He said, moving into the living room and settling Jesse down gently onto one of the couches.

“Reinhardt? Jack? Did you find Lena?” A female voice called out from one of the rooms, a petite woman that appeared to be around Reinhardt’s age appearing moments later out of one of the doors. “Thank heavens, Lena dear you scared us half to death.” She scolded, rushing forward to sweep Lena up into a hug.

  “I’m sorry Ana, I didn’t mean to get separated, really!” Lena smiled, hugging the woman back tightly.

“It isn’t your fault Habibi, just be more careful next time,” Ana scolded gently, before turning her attention onto the two haggard men on the couch. “Now what do we have here?” She asked, moving forward and gingerly pulling Jesse’s hand away from his bleeding shoulder.

Unlike her husband, Ana was an incredibly tiny thing. Her snow-white hair hung loose around her face, the tresses framing a face that, while aged, was still incredibly beautiful. There was an intelligence and authority in her gaze that was offset by a maternal warmth that reminded Jesse immediately of his Mima.

Ana didn’t hesitate once she realized the extent of Jesse’s injuries. Pulling away from the boy, she clicked her tongue against her teeth.

“Reinhardt, my love, please fetch me my med kit out of our room?” She requested, replacing Jesse’s hand with her own against the wound with a surprising amount of strength.

“Of course,” Reinhardt nodded, disappearing down the hall to fetch the requested medical equipment.

Settling Gabe down onto the couch beside Jesse, Jack straightened with a grunt and glanced over at his daughter.

“Lena, go ahead and get cleaned up, we can handle things from here,” He promised, disappearing into the kitchen and returning moments later with two bottles of water. Tossing one to Jesse, and the other to Gabe, he sat down across from them with a sigh.

“Once you two are patched up, I’ll grab you some blankets so that you can crash on the couch,” Jack insisted, glancing over at Gabe as if he was waiting for some sort of protest. “I would offer you a room, but unfortunately they’re already pretty crammed. Once you’re recovered, we can discuss whether you two want to stick around or not.”

“We aren’t staying,” Gabe muttered, pressing the water bottle to his skull with a groan as he laid back against the couch.

“Pa! If they’re gonna let us stay, we should! I don’t wanna go back on the road.” Jesse started, feeling a twinge of panic at the idea of leaving the safety of the bunker. There were friendly people, food, beds. He didn’t want to go back to sleeping in the truck wondering if he would wake up to a zombie trying to bash its way through the truck’s windows.

“Jesse, enough, we will talk about it later,” Gabe growled, barely glancing over at Jesse as he spoke.

“Well, you don’t have to stay,” Jack shrugged, watching as Reinhardt handed Ana her medical kit and begin to clean Jesse’s wound with practiced hands. “I’m just saying that with fall coming up, and the roads getting more dangerous by the day. I figure it’s the least I can do to offer you and your son a safe place to stay. After all, you did save my daughter.”

Gabe let out a sigh at this, massaging his aching temples and trying to ignore the plaintive looks that Jesse was shooting his way.

“I believe that you should sleep on it before you make your decision,” Ana piped up with a soft hum, numbing Jesse’s arm with a local anesthetic before beginning to stitch up his shoulder. “Your son will need at least a couple weeks to recover enough to move on, I recommend that you stay at least that long, doctor’s orders.” She insisted looking over at Gabe firmly when the man looked ready to argue.

Opening his mouth to protest, Gabe snapped it shut with a grumble when Jesse sent him a pleading look. Jesse wasn’t sure what was going through his father’s head, but the last thing he wanted was for them to have another near-death experience. Jesse wanted to stay, but he was terrified his father wouldn’t let them.

After a moment of silence, Gabe let out a soft sigh, his hand wandering up to run through his hair. Shooting a glance over at Jesse, his features slowly started to relax at the desperation that Jesse hoped he was portraying on his face. Letting out a sigh of defeat, Gabe nodded.

“Alright, we’ll stay for at least a week or two,” He muttered, chuckling when Jesse let out a small noise of excitement. “But once Jesse’s recovered, we’re leaving.”

 “Fair enough,” Jack nodded, moving to his feet with a grunt once Ana finished winding bandages around Jesse’s shoulder securely. “There’s food in the kitchen, eat if you need to, otherwise feel free to use the TV and get some rest.”

The three filed out of the room with that, leaving Jesse alone with his Pa on the couch. A few moments later, Jack returned with a pile of blankets and pillows as promised, depositing them on the couch before disappearing once more down the hall, leaving the father and son to settle down for the night feeling safe for the first time in weeks.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay in the update, things this month have been beyond awful. After months of struggling on my own I have officially been left with no options but to move back home with my parents without my fiancee or our pets. I just wanted to say thank you for all the positive comments on my story. I really appreciate all your support, the comments really do make my day a little brighter  
> Like my work? Maybe buy me a coffee. Any little bit helps.  
> Ko-fi.com/kaycooper


	4. The Bunker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, but here's the next chapter! The next chapter is already underway, so look forward to the next installment soon!

Chapter Four

Jesse

                Lying out on the couch after putting on the first movie he recognized in the massive collection, Jesse found himself immediately struggling to keep his eyes open. Worn down after weeks on the road, it was nearly impossible to keep his eyes open while a sensation like lead weights attached to the lids attempted to force them closed.

Initially, he hoped to stay up with his Pa, but he lost the battle with consciousness shortly after the title menu disappeared from the screen. The warm blanket of sleep enveloped him while the opening credits rolled across the screen, and before he knew it he was lost to the world between dreams.  

                With the world falling apart around him, Jesse had thought that sleep would be one of the few escapes he could rely on, but the horrors that he faced during the day were quick to follow him into his dreams. Terrifying images clawed at the inside of his mind, dragging him through an endless stream of nightmares that would leave him starting awake throughout the night. He wasn’t sure how many times that he jerked himself back to reality that night, driven from his sleep by images of gnashing teeth and bloodied gnarled fingers digging into the flesh of people desperately attempting to escape their grisly fate. There were several occasions in which he believed that he might be dragging himself out of the black tar of unconsciousness, but would once again slip into nothingness, forcing him back into the nightmares before he could force his eyes open.

                Jerking awake on the couch on multiple occasions, Jesse found himself muffling his own scream with the back his hand. Tears streaming from his eyes, Jesse would have to force himself to look over to the couch across from him where his Pa was dozing with his hat over his eyes. Reassuring himself that he was safe, Jesse would once more force himself to lay back against the cushions.

Staring up at the ceiling, Jesse allowed sleep to gradually return to him, ready to repeat the same exhausting routine as before until after hours, he settled into a shallow, dreamless slumber.

                 It was the sound of a muffled conversation that finally roused him from his doze.

                Soft, but enraged, the voice that finally managed to coax his eyes open wasn’t one he recognized from the night before. Whoever was speaking, was bickering furiously with the man he recognized as Lena’s father.

                What was his name again? James? Jacob? He couldn’t recall at that exact moment. His brain was pounding furiously against the inside of his skull, and the wound on his shoulder was making a desperate bid for equal attention, aching and throbbing enough that it left Jesse’s stomach rolling.

                “We do not have the room, or the supplies to take in new people,” The voice that had pulled Jesse from his sleep was back again, distracting him from his agony for a moment.

                “Hanzo this is hardly the time or place for this conversation,” Lena’s father, Jerry? Jim? Jack? Jack seemed right, he would stick with that for the moment. Jack sounded frustrated rather than angry at the new voice as if he was telling a stubborn child for the thousandth time to clean their room.

                “Would you prefer that I wait until we use all our supplies on them?” The voice challenged in a tone Jesse had used once when trying to argue with his Pa. It hadn’t ended well for him, and he was sure it wasn’t going to end well for the newcomer either.

                “Look, kid, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t be here,” Gabe butted into the conversation irritably. Jesse could tell immediately that his father was already on his last strands of patience, and silently he wondered just how long this conversation had been going on.

                “Then leave,” Jesse couldn’t help but flinch at the curt response, wondering if the boy knew how close he was to getting smacked upside the head.

                “That isn’t your call to make,” Lena’s father butted in, sounding exasperated. “You might not like it, son, but you are not in charge here.”

                “This is my father’s bunker!” The boy retaliated, his voice cracking with fury. Even with sleep blurring his thoughts, Jesse could tell that the speaker couldn’t be much older than himself, and had an accent that Jesse couldn’t quite place. “You were welcomed here only because we needed your assistance. If I wanted, I could force you all to leave!”

                “Ani, do not say that!” A new voice butted in. Another boy who sounded more frustrated than angry. “Jack and his family saved our lives. They are our friends, and if they trust these strangers so do I.”

                “Damarinasai, Genji!” Jesse wasn’t sure what the first boy said, but he didn’t sound happy.

                Peeling open his eyes, Jesse grimaced as his shoulder and head both made a fresh grab for attention with sharp pangs of agony. Groaning softly, his good hand snaked up to clutch at his forehead, bile rolling in his stomach dangerously. Sitting up with a grunt of distress, Jesse was relieved to find a bucket in his hands seconds before he heaved emptily.

                Emptying what was left in his stomach into the bucket, Jesse blearily looked up at his rescuer and was relieved to see Ana’s sharp cocoa-colored eyes staring back at him.

                “There - there, Habibi, you are alright,” Ana’s gentle voice coaxed in his ear, waiting for him to finish retching before pulling the bucket away and placing a water bottle in his hands. “Drink, you’ve been asleep for almost twenty-four hours which is good for your recovery, but makes it very difficult to keep you hydrated.” She explained, helping Jesse to lean back against the couch once more while he took shaky sips of water. “Genji, would you wet a washcloth for me?” She asked without looking up.

                “Of course,” The voice who had jumped to Jack’s defense agreed, the sound of feet moving towards the kitchen sounding a moment later.

                Looking up, Jesse was finally able to register the rest of the room.

                 His Pa was standing just beside the couch, his head still wound tightly with a bandage and his hand resting on the back of the couch Jesse was sleeping on. Jack was just across from them, staring down a boy that was about Jesse’s age. He wasn’t difficult for him to recognize him as the one that had been arguing with his Pa, and Jesse couldn’t help but notice that asshole or not, the guy was incredibly attractive. 

                Ebony hair hung loosely around his face, immaculately maintained despite the world they were living in. His cheeks were still flushed with embarrassment and rage, his golden eyes flashing with defiance. Jesse was mesmerized by the way that his statuesque features remained impossibly regal despite his heightened emotions. He had never been very good with written language, but something about the boy made him want to write poetry and…

                “What are you staring at?”

                Uh-oh.

                 Jesse hadn’t realized the raven-haired vision was paying attention to him. Averting his gaze to avoid the possibility of further backlash, Jesse’s cheeks flushed crimson. He was struggling to think of something to say when Ana butted in defensively.

                “Hanzo Shimada, that is enough,” Ana chastised, her hand resting on Jesse’s back. “Like it or not, Jesse and Gabe are here, and there is no reason for you to be rude. Now apologize, and go cool off in your room!”

                So, this was the Hanzo that Lena was warning him about. He thought she was exaggerating when she said he might be a bit hostile.

                The boy that Ana had called Genji returned in the tense moments that followed, edging around his fuming brother and handing a damp rag to Ana. Glancing over at his brother expectantly, he raised a dark eyebrow when Hanzo glared over at him. Unbothered by the other’s obvious rage, he sat down on the floor, leaning back against the couch and grinning up at Jesse and Gabe apologetically.

                Hanzo seemed torn between storming away and shouting at the group in front of him. Jesse could see the man’s irritation grow at his brother’s friendly demeanor towards the intruders in their home. Ana seemed to realize this and kept her eyes firmly locked with Hanzo’s, her eyebrow raised in a silent challenge. Authority rolled off the small woman like a cloak daring the teenager to say anything in protest. Realizing he’d been defeated, Hanzo lowered his gaze, shame radiating off his proud form. Biting his lip, he let out a defeated noise and bowed his head, his cheeks crimson with embarrassment.

                Jesse could see the frustration radiating off Hanzo, but the fire that had been burning in his whiskey-colored eyes seemed to have faded away. Shoulders slumping in defeat, he murmured something under his breath before nodding slowly.

                “I’ll be in my room,” He muttered, turning on his heel and retreating down the hall.

                Clicking her tongue against her teeth, Ana shook her head and huffed softly at the sound of Hanzo slamming his door shut. Turning to her husband who had been monitoring the situation from the safety of the sidelines she raised an eyebrow and utilizing some unspoken language managed to coax the gentle giant into action.

                “I believe that it would be best if someone talked to Hanzo, I shall return shortly my friends,” Reinhardt declared, moving down the hall after Hanzo.

                A few moments later, a soft knock filled the air before the door opened and Reinhardt’s footsteps disappeared.

                The door clicked shut, and silence rolled over the group. The tension in the air was permeable, and for a moment, Jesse was left with nothing to do but shift awkwardly beside his Pa while Ana finished changing out the bandages around his shoulder. It was Jack who finally managed to break the silence, sitting down on the couch across from Jesse and Gabe, the blond grimaced back at the pair.

                “He’s a good kid, really, he’s just been through a lot,” Jack admitted, his tired cerulean eyes filled with exhaustion that mirrored Gabe’s perfectly.

                Jack was just a father doing his best to keep things together in the worst situation imaginable. Once again, Jesse felt his desire to stay bubble to the surface. If Jack and his father had someone they could rely on, maybe things would be easier for everyone.

                “So I’ve heard,” Gabe snorted, glancing over at Genji and raising an eyebrow. “What’s your story kid?” Genji, looked up with a startled look on his face, clearly not expecting the attention.

                Shrugging his shoulders, he played with the sleeve on his baggy sweatshirt for a moment before speaking.

              “We were on our own when this all started,” Genji began, not seeming bothered by the shocked looks on both Gabe and Jesse’s faces. “My mother died when we were very young, and our father was never around much to begin with. His… _work,”_ he grumbled this word, a look of disgust filling his face, “Kept him busy. We thought that when things started to go bad that he would come home and get us, but either he died, something kept him away, or he just didn’t care enough to come find us, because he never did come back.” Letting out a long sigh, Genji glanced down the hallway towards his and his brother’s shared room with a frown.

               Jesse felt a twinge of sympathy for the boy, unable to imagine a world where he would have so little faith in his Pa coming back for him. His Pa had always been a constant in his life, and the thought that a parent would care so little for their children left his heart sinking. Genji didn’t seem bothered in the slightest that his father might be dead, or hurt. He wondered silently, just how bad of a parent he had to be to earn such distaste from his child.

             “We had servants, body guards, drivers, but when things started to go to hell they wanted to find their own families,” Genji continued, “One of them, our Nanny, tried to get us to come with her, but Hanzo was sure that our father would return for us and refused. Two weeks went by, and we were living off what was left in our pantries, the bunker wasn’t exactly stocked for long term living. It was more for emergencies in case my father’s business caught some unwanted attention.”

            “Unwanted attention as in…?” Jesse coaxed, a laugh falling from Genji’s lips at the question.

             “My father was a mob boss in the Yakuza,” Genji explained bluntly, not seeming bothered by the startled look on Jesse’s face. “If the police started to snoop around, or if someone hired a hitman we were supposed to use the bunker to lay low until he came to get us.”

             “Christ,” Gabe let out a sharp breath of air, looking around the space with a new look of trepidation. “That explains the luxury bunker at least, were you involved with his _business_ as well?” He demanded, glancing over at Genji cautiously.

             “My father’s business was his own, I had no desire to take any part in it,” Genji grumbled, wrapping his arms around his knees and leaning back to look up at the pair. “Hanzo was the one who was supposed to succeed him but don’t let him fool you. He would never have been able to. He might try to act ruthless, and tough, but he is just as scared as I am.” He sighed, resting his head back against the couch and grinning up at Jesse and Gabe. “He’ll get used to you being here.”

             Jesse wasn’t so sure about that. The way that Hanzo looked at them wasn’t exactly one of someone with an uncertain opinion. He wanted them gone, but Jesse was hoping that maybe his brother was right. Maybe he could change Hanzo’s mind, it wasn’t like he couldn’t at least try. Jesse hadn’t met very many people in his life that he couldn’t win over if given the proper amount of time.

              “Alright, that is enough talk for the moment,” Ana declared, moving to her feet and clapping her hands together. “Jesse, habibi, would you like to take a bath? One of the perks of living in such cramped conditions is this property has its own well and solar panels to keep everything running.” She explained, gathering the dirtied bandages and placing them in a bag to be disposed of before rinsing her hands off in the kitchen sink.

             Perking up at the idea of getting to bathe, Jesse nodded excitedly, his plans to win over Hanzo pushed to the back of his mind for the moment at least.

             “Yes ma’am, I’d like that very much,” He grinned, letting out a startled noise when the woman easily lifted him to his feet despite being half his size. Swaying dizzily for a moment, Jesse was gradually able to regain his balance with Ana’s help.

              “Good, a bath and some food is exactly what you need right now,” Ana insisted, helping the boy down the hall. “We’ll discuss everything else later on, for the moment I want you to focus on recovering.”

                Even if he wanted to argue, Jesse could tell already that the decision had already been made for him. Allowing Ana to usher him into the bathroom, Jesse accepted a towel, a washcloth, and a set of clean clothes without protest. Once she was sure that he was properly situated in the bathroom, Ana gestured to a basket beside the door.

                “Those are some clothes we found for Genji and Hanzo, but luckily for you, they were far too big for them,”  Dirty clothes in there, I doubt we’ll be able to save the shirt, but the pants look salvageable.” She explained, pointing to the tub and sink. “There are extra toothbrushes under the sink and different soaps in the tub. If you find yourself having any issues reaching anything with that arm of yours holler, and I will come help. Don’t just avoid washing something because you’re shy, I’m a doctor, believe me when I say I’ve seen it all before.”

                Jesse opened his mouth to protest, but snapped it shut again when she raised her eyebrow.

                 “Yes ma’am,” He nodded, lowering his gaze down towards his bare toes noting the way that they left smears of dirt across the bathroom rug.

                “Alright, enjoy your bath,” Ana smiled, pulling away from Jesse and moving back out into the hall before closing the door behind her.

                The door clicked into place, silencing Jack and Gabe’s muffled conversation that he could hear floating down the hall. It almost felt unreal to be standing in the middle of the pristine bathroom, the small space all but untouched by the chaos of the world outside. Every movement that he made was leaving streaks of filth on the otherwise unblemished room.

                Slowly, he managed to peel his gaze off the ground, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he caught a pair of eyes staring back at him.

               It took longer than it should have to recognize that the sunken eyes of the man in the mirror above the sink were his own. There was a certain disconnect from what he expected, and who was actually standing behind the glass.

                When was the last time he’d looked in a mirror? Weeks? He seemed older. He looked so damn tired. There were cuts and bruises everywhere on his body. He had stubble on his cheeks where he used to be clean shaven. His hair was unruly and hung in his face, weighed down by weeks of grime that quick rinses in gas station bathrooms couldn’t wash away. The most jarring image of them all was his eyes. Bloodshot and surrounded by dark bags, his eyes were no longer his own.

               He didn’t recognize himself, and it was terrifying.

               Was he safe? Or was he dead? If he was dead, why did everything hurt so bad?

               Grabbing onto the sink as panic gripped his body, Jesse forced his eyes away from the mirror. His stomach rolled dangerously, and a gasp fell from his lips as tears burned in his eyes. His vision swimming as for a moment, he could almost feel fingers digging into his arms and legs while the hot, putrid breath of the dead ran over his skin.

               Reeling away from the sink, Jesse stumbled back and scrambled to turn on the water in the tub. His heart was racing in his chest as he clumsily stripped himself naked doing his best to avoid the gaze of the reflection looming behind him.

               The water was scalding to the touch by the time the tub was full enough for him to enter. Moving into the water, Jesse immediately began to scrub at the dirt caked against his skin. He was alright. He was safe. He was still the same. Jesse was somewhere hidden beneath the grime, he just had to find him.

              He wasn’t sure how many times that he emptied and refilled the tub, but by the time that he was done, he was beet red and his skin stung from the time he spent scrubbing every inch of himself. He’d even managed to get his back despite the protest from his throbbing shoulder.

               Letting the last of the water roll down the drain, Jesse moved to his feet slowly and with far steadier hands than before his bath toweled himself dry. Pulling on his borrowed clothes, Jesse placed his hand on the doorknob and without meeting the gaze of the stranger in the mirror, he stepped out into the hall, the cool air immediately shoving away the dark thoughts that plagued his mind.

               He was safe, for now, and that was all that mattered. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I'm sorry for the delay on the update. It seemed that everything that could go wrong, did go wrong last month. I ended up moving back home with my parents to avoid being evicted, and have been there ever since. Things do seem to be turning around, but it will be awhile before I can move back out with my fiancee.   
> Thanks again for your patience, and I really hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Let me know how you like it in the comments and stay tuned for more!


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